Freaky incident (gay activist vs homophobic Christian)

[David3K]

The guy was a idiot and deserved a wedgy himself, in front of the cameras.

[ChadCoxRox]

I'm not a theologian and I don't want to jump to conclusions but the biblical text clearly condemns homosexuality.

Interpretation is, however, a complex science. There are other elements that should probably be taken into consideration, especially when you're interpreting a book as complex as this one, e.g. culture and history.

I totally agree with your reply to this quote I posted, but I think it detracts from the salient fact the quote presents. There are LOTS of "clear" condemnations in the bibles of the world but the point is the weighing of focus and emphasis as is convenient for the purposes of denying fear and instead propagating oppression, anger and hatred.

[ChadCoxRox]

One other thing about this, since it was brought up here, this thing about her free speech rights. In the world today, we seem to love to drop this 'free speech' line, and in U.S. (where this incident happened) it is almost always irrelevant to the conversation. This man could be charged with crimes, but one he cannot be charged with in the U.S., is violating someone's free speech rights, nor could he ever be sued civilly for violating someone's free speech rights. The government did not throw the pie. Violations of 1st Amendment rights are charges that can only be brought against the government, not a private citizen and not a private company.

And once again, this happened 37 years ago. It just seems silly to be all up in arms about this today.

VERY nice reply! Great to be clear. And I certainly agreed about the "all up in arms" point; but, it remains a great example of underlying processes that perpetuate homophobia (and a whole myriad of fear-related ignorance) for both "us" and "them".

[ChadCoxRox]

And really, a pie in the face is so tame, so limp, it sends no message and just makes you look like a dweeb in front of all the fundies, why not try a bucket of scorpions or something

Assault does not have to include physical violence, but your brand seems far more violent than whipped cream!!

[ChadCoxRox]

Yeah, from what I know about what Anita Bryant was doing back then, I'm pretty sure what she deserved was more than that. However, I wouldn't get all riled up about it and probably would do nothing if I saw her at any time in my life unless she instigated anything (she probably wouldn't). Also, her campaign of homophobia eventually made her an outcast and counter-intuitively helped further mobilize the movement for gay rights that we see today. So no, one pie in the face doesn't compare to the successful atrocities of homophobia - nor did that homophobia succeed further out into the future.

But there are more recent cases where allies threw food at homophobes, those events are probably more worthy and timely for discussion.

Don't leave us out! It IS timely and relevant. I am older and saw this happen live and younger folk may find it less than timely or worthy; but, I suggest knowing, remembering, respecting and proclaiming our effort's history is needed and valuable and worthy and timely. This is quite timely because it is one of the very first public displays of LGBT non-violent assaultive protest and proved particularly effective in several ways leading right up to today's initiatives.

[ChadCoxRox]

The guy was a idiot and deserved a wedgy himself, in front of the cameras.

And a pat on the back from every LGBT person on the planet.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Actually if anyone bothers to dig deeper and discard the Latin Vulgate (from which nearly every english translation comes from) Each and every one of the six most popular biblical reasons to hate homosexuals becomes very iffy.

And taking a line out of a whole chapter is a practice of the Churches which is historically used to justify all manner of terrible things. The inquisition, the burning of Witches, the support of Slavery... Are just the tip of the iceberg.

Put that line back in its context and read the whole chapter and it becomes clearer that the admonishments was not against homosexuality, it was against the practice of Moloch worshipers. Add a bit of knowledge about how the Moloch Cult went about 'worship' and you find that temple prostitution, or ritual sex is the issue, not two men having sex.



And the bible does have its gay/bi couples. Ruth and Naomi, Johnathan and David, The Centurion and his Pais.

Then we have the huge glaring problem of what Jesus was saying about Eunuchs.

So no, the bible does not have a clear stance on homosexuality. Well actually it does, but no one likes the message. And no its not God hates Fags.

As for Anita - she had it coming. The woman did and said a lot of deplorable things.

And this was during a time when gays in America were targeted for real violence, and gays were being arrested for being gay, and the Mental Health hospitals were treating homosexuality with electroshock therapy.

All of which Anita and many others fully supported and wanted to see more of.

The woman was no lady and was far from nice.

She is fortunate it was only a pie. Many wanted her (and people like her) to die an unpleasant death as soon as possible.


If I recall correctly there was the rumor attached to this incident that it was a staged event intended to garner more support for the antigay crowd. And due to the various tactics she and others like her used to gain support such a thing isn't really beyond the realm of possibility.

She got a chance to act the martyr, winning sympathy on camera. That is very powerful stuff.

Her words are still used today to justify all manner of real violence and abuse toward LGBT. I can't even imagine how many LGBT have been bashed or ended up committing suicide because her hatred still echos around in society.

A pie in the face is nothing compared to the damage she did and is still doing.

[Miles]

^^^My Bucket O' Scorpions™ plan is still on the table, you know.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Not certain if talking about our sexual fetishes is kosher Miles.... :biggrin:

[princealbertofb]

The LADY in question is Anita Bryant, one of the biggest homophobes that ever existed... You need to bone up on your homosexuality history, guys.
She was vicious!